Pluto no longer a planet?

What are the implications for astrology?

By Dieter Koch

Soon after Pluto's discovery in 1930 doubt began to be expressed
whether Pluto could really be considered a planet. On the one side,
it is quite small, even smaller than our Moon. On the other side
it orbits the Sun in a rather unusual path resembling more the orbit
of an asteroid than a planet. But because Pluto was the only known
celestial body out there, it was accepted as a planet - for the time
being.

In the course of the last decade a number of celestial objects
has been discovered in the outer regions of the solar system beyond
Neptune. Many of these seem to have similar physical properties as
Pluto and they orbit the Sun on tracks which resemble Pluto's orbit.
From their discovery, they all were classified as asteroids. In the
course of the last years, among many astronomers the conviction grew
that also Pluto should not be a planet but an asteroid.

This question became a real problem when three years ago for the
first time a trans-Neptunian object was discovered which was larger than
Pluto, with the denomination 2003 UB313.

The object was dubbed by its discoverer with the provisional name Xena (either
an American comics figure, or Greek for the stranger woman).
Currently it is three times as distant from Earth as Pluto. Because
in the year 2003 Pluto still was considered a planet, some astronomers
drew the conclusion that UB313 had to be the tenth planet.
Others however demanded that the time had come to degrade Pluto from
planet to asteroid. This position seems to have won at the recent
convention of the IAU in Prague, at least to some extent. On August
24 2006, the general assembly of the International Astronomical Union
issued for the first time a formal definition for the term planet and
also a classification for other celestial objects.

Besides
these, there is a number of dwarf planets. Among
them Pluto, 2003 UB313 and Ceres, which orbits between Mars
and Jupiter, discovered in
1801 and previously considered the largest asteroid.
In the coming months
it was to be decided which other objects should be dwarf
planets

The other celestial bodes orbiting the Sun, e.g. asteroids
and comets, are now called small solar system bodies.

Many astrologers and users of astrology are now concerned with
the question which consequences the degradation of Pluto has for
astrology. Do we have to exclude Pluto from our charts? Do we
have to interpret it differently? Are Astrodienst's horoscopes
still valid?

To say it clearly: There is no reason for being concerned. The
understanding which astrologers have gained about the astrological
effect of Pluto since its discovery in 1930 is not changed by the
new astronomical definition. The meaning of Pluto in the horoscope
remains the same. The horoscope reports by Astrodienst remain as
valid as they were before.

In astrology the term planet means something different
than a planet in the astronomical sense. For example, astrology also
counts the Sun and Moon as planets, in Hindu astrology even Rahu
and Ketu, the lunar nodes.

In astrology a planet is used as a symbol; its properties
as a physical object are not very relevant.
Astronomy comes in where the position of the planet on the sky and in the chart
has to be calculated precisely.

The decision by the IAU not to call Pluto a planet any longer is
not to be considered a new discovery, which changes what we know
about Pluto. It is only an official naming convention. Nothing about
Pluto's nature and our knowledge about it has been changed. What
possibly may be changing is how we see Pluto in the context with
the other celestial bodies.

It is possible that a few astrologers will draw consequences from
the new classification of Pluto within the solar system. Some may
stop to use Pluto in their charts. There are astrologers who do not
consider Uranus and Neptune, because they are not among the classical
planets visible to the naked eye and known since antiquity.

But only few astrologers will want to drop Pluto. The astrological
effects it causes are considered too important, at least by most
of us. It is conceivable that some astrologers will begin to include
also other dwarf planets in their chart reading, i.e UB313, Ceres
and others. We do not know much about the astrological meaning of
these bodies yet, nothing at all really about UB313.

There is no reason for astrologers and users of astrology to be
concerned. But there is reason to be excited and to focus
on new astrological research.

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